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EA's struggles with Star Wars are mystifying to me
- Thread starter Umbrella Carp
- Start date
Lucasfilm are considered making a movie or tv series with the old republic , you don't think they will consider a new game to tie in with that? I do.
Until then sit tight.
Also note that all story details have to go through lucasfilms story group in order for Everything to match to cannon so its gonna take longer per game
Until then sit tight.
Also note that all story details have to go through lucasfilms story group in order for Everything to match to cannon so its gonna take longer per game
Not going to pretend to know what happens behind the scenes but the EA exclusivity for the Star Wars franchise is probably one of the worst decisions for everyone involved.
Over halfway through the contract and barely anything to show for it. From space wizards dueling with swords of light to spaceships dogfighting to gigantic battlefields, you think there would be plenty of ideas to multiple genres..
Over halfway through the contract and barely anything to show for it. From space wizards dueling with swords of light to spaceships dogfighting to gigantic battlefields, you think there would be plenty of ideas to multiple genres..
Honestly, they can keep it.
I am kind of done with star wars for the next couple years. Just overkill at this point.
I want new universes, stories, and games set in them. They just need to be well thought out and developed. Gameplay can be king but world building and story should inform it all.
I am kind of done with star wars for the next couple years. Just overkill at this point.
I want new universes, stories, and games set in them. They just need to be well thought out and developed. Gameplay can be king but world building and story should inform it all.
Back then development costs were a fraction of what they are now. Aside from the question of how many independent studios are capable of making a big AAA SW game today, if EA contracted one of those they'd have to pay them royalties, which means lower margins, and they already have lower margins due to the license. That would be poor business. The correct choice is to do them internally, though of course not fucking it up internally is even better.
Indeed.
If design is nice and compact without unnecessary things like walking as character or ground combat, it should be quite doable..
One of the great things in old games was that the experience was instilled to the most essential things and did it well.
from software could have done it
you'd basically just need lightsabers and a sci-fi setting to sekiro and you have a star wars game
Bioware was way too loaded with work to take on KOTOR. Anthem has been long in production and they were already busy with Mass Effect and Dragon Age game work too, with Anthem in the background, they were never going to get a KOTOR made.
As for bioware doing SWTOR over another KOTOR, that was long ago Lucasarts decision, not EA's. Bioware wanted to do KOTOR 3 but Lucasarts who at the time was still calling the shots on the games, wanted a MMO and asked EA to make a Star Wars MMO for them, which turned into SWTOR. By the time EA got the rights to the franchise exclusive, bioware's hands were full already with multiple big projects.
As for bioware doing SWTOR over another KOTOR, that was long ago Lucasarts decision, not EA's. Bioware wanted to do KOTOR 3 but Lucasarts who at the time was still calling the shots on the games, wanted a MMO and asked EA to make a Star Wars MMO for them, which turned into SWTOR. By the time EA got the rights to the franchise exclusive, bioware's hands were full already with multiple big projects.
Yeah one of the biggest mysteries of gaming. But it's probably sheer greed. Single player games are almost dead to EA and they put all their eggs into the GaaS bucket. It didn't end well. At least there is hope with Jedi Fallen Order and maybe Battlefront 3 learning from past mistakes. They should also make KOTOR3 asap. It's such a no brainer, really baffling. And yes, we need new X-Wing games. Revive the genre with optional VR in the Battlefront engine. Most of the assets are already there. It's not that hard, EA!
1. They don't own the IP.
2. Licensing/royalty costs to Dinsey are expensive.
3. Star Wars doesn't sell that much better than their original IPs.
4. Harder to monetize SW through "live services" due to Disney's iron tight control of the IP and lengthy review process.
2. Licensing/royalty costs to Dinsey are expensive.
3. Star Wars doesn't sell that much better than their original IPs.
4. Harder to monetize SW through "live services" due to Disney's iron tight control of the IP and lengthy review process.
So far EA has produced the two best selling SW games to date, by a large margin. They have struggled with SP entries, partially due to their business model, but that could change this year or maybe it won't and it will just reinforce their belief that they were right all along.
You Are looking this too rationally. Corporations are not like that. They are big unions created to maintain the power of big CEOs. Investing too much on other people IPs won't make sense in the long run. The important is to keep the big monster feed to everyone can keep their big salaries.
This you think any big studio that's seen 7 years of star citizen funding would have at least attempted a huge online space fighter game by now *looks at sony and colony wars ip*
I have liked every single EA Star Wars game I have played so far.
(Battlefront 1+2, Galaxy of Heroes)
And I am very excited for Jedi Fallen Order
(Battlefront 1+2, Galaxy of Heroes)
And I am very excited for Jedi Fallen Order
I think you guys are doing a good job, we just want MORE lol
It's easy.
Because they are thinking "How can we make the most money out of a Star Wars game" instead of "How can we make a great and iconic Star Wars game".
Because they are thinking "How can we make the most money out of a Star Wars game" instead of "How can we make a great and iconic Star Wars game".
People assume that Star Wars games are easy since they just assume that the games will automatically sell 5-10M units because "It's Star Wars". That has never actually been the case, and most of the old Star Wars games were not huge sellers, but did did well in a market when game budgets were far lower than they are today.
I would do unspeakable things for a new X-Wing/TIE Fighter style game. We'll never get one, which in this age of Star Citizen and Elite is crazy but I've made my peace with it. It'll be Rogue Squadron style stuff at best. (Not that RS is bad, but it's a very different type of game).
Tiny Death Star was awesome.
Exactly. Also, when a game needs to sell 10m+ in order to break even (because the IP rights are expensive) and the publisher knows it is unlikely, it relies on micro-transactions which of course leads to PR nightmares. Basically, developing licensed games in an age of already extremely high budgets isn't easy. Games like Spiderman are an exception and not that easy to replicate.
It was absolutely fantastic. Would love to see more stuff of that ilk.
I still find it completely mindboggling that you barely have done anything with the license and what you have released has caused universal backlash and even caused a ban on micro-transactions in several countries bringing monetization discussion into the mainstream.
You can't be oblivious to these facts ? and I understand you can't comment on numerous issues for NDA reasons, but I remember a time when a new star wars game filled me with excitement but all I feel now is skeptisism even when it comes to respawns new game.
The two current generation Battlefront games have probably sold close to 25-30M copies at this point. Yet people still insist that EA have "nothing to show for it" as far as the license goes, while suggesting sequels to games that wouldn't even move the needle by today's standard.
Battlefront 2 could have been an amazing game, but they decided to cram microtransactions into it like every other EA game.
That's one of the reasons they've fucked up.
They can't stand the idea of a 20-hour single-player game that people will just trade after a week.
That's one of the reasons they've fucked up.
They can't stand the idea of a 20-hour single-player game that people will just trade after a week.
Tons more people play games now than ever before. Even with the bad press and bad word of mouth everywhere the new Battlefront games have sold a crap ton. People are starved for good Star Wars games anything will sell.
Which actually does not matter since Battlefront 2 sold 60% less than the first Battlefront and financially the game was not successful.
Financially the game was a flop for EA and is known as the big flop of 2017, it was also heavily discounted quickly after release and even EA acknowledged the lootbox controversy was the main reason which is why they changed it but it was too late.
So yeah 25 to 30 million sounds good but many of those copies were sold heavily discounted.
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Sorry tried to quote you in my post but what you are saying is true from a certain point of view ;) but what is also true is that BF2 sold 60% less than Battlefront 1 from EA.
It was by all accounts a financial failure and was quickly discounted, number of copies sold up until now does not matter in this case since BF2 has been sold on deals for as little as 10 bucks.
As a consumer, I don't care how many copies of games that EA sells. I care about them releasing Star Wars games that I want to play. Two Battlefront games doesn't count for much to me.
The "big flop" sold roughly 9 million copies in the first 8 weeks of sales (EA expectations were 10M). Trying to act as if the game isn't a huge success seems pretty absurd. This one "flop" sold more than probably the entirety of Lucasarts' 360/PS3 output.
Did it sell as much as BF1? Nah, but almost everything tends to be down as compared to the start of the generation and previous sequels.
Battlefront sells because it is using an incredibly popular genre/model combined with insane AAA production values. Force Unleashed barely did a fraction of BF's sales.
The idea that "Anythting Star Wars-related will sell because Battlefront did well" is silly when you can point to dozens of relatively recent Star Wars games that did not really do all that well.
I think it speaks more to the realities of working on AAA licensed IP development to be honest. You mix that with people outside the industry continuing to take game development for granted (comments like "why cant they make a SW game like Uncharted")
Why arent there amazing Harry Potter games or amazing Marvel games all over the place? Or Game of Thrones? Or DC? Its exceptionally hard to make really good games and its exceptionally hard to ship an average quality licensed game
I'm still amazed at that short speeder bike mission in Battlefront 1 and how authentic it felt and how well it handled, along with how spot on the graphics and sound were in general. Such a shame there's not a really big epic single player game utilising the expertise on show but instead it's funnelled into a MP game.
Didn't we get that big leak on the AAA Harry Potter game for next gen like last year?
Marvel's Spider-Man came out last year and Ultimate Alliance 3 is right around the corner.
I don't think anyone is saying game development isn't hard. But a lot of the problem seems to be from upper management / leadership in terms of what EA should be doing with the license.
I would like to play Blitz again (or any arcade football title) and don't care about Madden, but at the same time I wouldn't claim that EA has nothing to show for the NFL license. If my personal taste dictated the value of a publisher's roster, half the publishers in the industry would be useless.
Star Wars: Jedi Master
Gameplay based on Jedi Knight/Academy, play as Luke doing Jedi shit after Return of the Jedi.
Star Wars: Republic at War
Based on Empire at War, but during Clone Wars era.
Those two would send my hype through the roof.
Battlefront has a good framework right now, EA just has to stop EAing the shit out of it.
Gameplay based on Jedi Knight/Academy, play as Luke doing Jedi shit after Return of the Jedi.
Star Wars: Republic at War
Based on Empire at War, but during Clone Wars era.
Those two would send my hype through the roof.
Battlefront has a good framework right now, EA just has to stop EAing the shit out of it.
It baffles me they never followed up on a KOTR reboot, it has money written on it everywhere.
Well, SWBF2 is better these days but it took 2 titles and 1 year and a half late post release of the 2nd one... I'm just saying that maybe it should have been handled better
There's Mutant Football League. Offtopic but you should check it out even has Tim Kitzrow the Blitz, Jam announcer doing the color commentary.
Your arguments are getting worse. EA comes out with Madden annually, like clockwork. If we were getting a new Star Wars game every year it would be a completely different story.
You're both proving my point, I especifically said "not many". Spiderman and the Arkham games are the exceptions that prove the rule. Before Arkham shitty Batman games were the norm because shipping a licensed game of average quality its already pretty damn difficult.
HP was leaked and who knows if it'll" be cancelled, zero guarantees it'll be good. Ultimate Alliance 3 is what, a decade after the last one?
When it comes to the Harry Potter games many seem very quickly put together and just rushed out to coincide with the movie release a video game tie in to a movie.
And many of those games were based on the movie that released back in the day when releasing a video game tie in to a movie was more common.
But my argument is making a game such as Kotor set in the same universe but does not directly tie in to the movie but tells it's own story inside that universe.
Many Star Wars fans including me feel that Knight of the old republic was such a huge adrenalin shot to the star wars fandom that was beloved by the fan base.
Many licensed harry potter games had the same plot as the movie that happen to release that year, but Star Wars in my opinion is such a huge universe that telling exciting stories inside this universe that does not directly tie in to the movies is what many fans would love to see.
That's why I was excited for the Ragtag project a non skywalker related star wars game but set inside the universe we all love.
I'd say I'm disappointed that they never jumped on the retro bandwagon and made Super Force Awakens et al, but the fact they haven't re-released SESB and SRotJ leads me to believe the Super Star Wars re-release underperformed...
Dont disagree at all, it would be awesome. Weve been doing KotOR content in SWGOH lately, we loved making it and the players where really hungry for it.
OK, let's take Marvel for example. Yes, on one hand we have those games, but on the other hand there's LEGO Marvel 2, LEGO Avengers, Deadpool, MVCI, Telltale GOTG, and Amazing Spider-Man 2 this gen, all of which got mediocre reception and in the case of MVCI we got pretty clear indication that it's Disney that makes things difficult.
Well and I happy you are finding success with it I don't play because I just don't like mobile games in general but glad to see it's being acknowledged.
I truly believe if you can find the right writers you can create a great AAA Star Wars RPG that fans will run out to buy we are hungry for more star wars games and despite all the trashtalk if Respawns game turn out great people will rush out to buy that as well.
I think most people would be fine with a level of output that DC has. There have been 5 Batman games and 2 Injustice games.
Marvel just recently started taking games seriously so let's see how what they come out with now that they've tasted success with Spider-Man.
Are you honestly saying that you're happy with the output EA has had since acquiring exclusive licensing rights to the franchise?
Preach!
I doubt it. BF2 has finally turned around and will hopefully keep getting good content and JFO is actually not getting canceled. I just don't see you guys delivering everything else the fans have been clamoring for for 2 console generations (Rogue Squadron, X-Wing vs Tie Fighter, KOTOR 3, Jedi Knight 4) by the time the exclusive license deal is up. I for one cannot wait for that to happen.